Incidence of ochratoxin A in dried fruits and co-occurrence with aflatoxins in dried figs.

Ninety eight dried figs, 53 sultanas and 20 dried apricots destined for export from Turkey to the European Union were tested for ochratoxin A (OTA) contamination utilizing immunoaffinity column clean-up and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). While only 2 (4%) of the sultanas exceeded the 10 ng g(-1) maximum limit set by the EU, 28 (53%) of 53 sultana samples contained detectable levels of OTA, in the range of 0.51-58.04 ng g(-1). Eighteen of 98 (18%) dried figs contained detectable levels of OTA, in the range of 0.87-24.37 ng g(-1). Only one of the 20 dried apricots was contaminated, with 0.97 ng g(-1) OTA. Dried figs analyzed for OTA were also tested for aflatoxin contamination to determine the co-occurrence of both toxins. Seven samples were confirmed aflatoxin positive, in the range of 0.23-4.28 ng g(-1), and only 2 samples contained both toxins, with a maximum concentration of 24.37 ng g(-1)for OTA and 1.02 ng g(-1) for aflatoxin B(1). The average recovery and relative standard deviation (RSD) obtained from dried fruits spiked with OTA ranged from 80.5% to 91.5% and 0.99-5%, respectively. The average recovery and relative standard deviation (RSD) obtained from dried figs spiked with aflatoxin ranged from 88.78% to 93.53% and 2.54-7.25%, respectively.